Unidimensional factor models imply weaker partial correlations than zero-order correlations

In this paper we present a new implication of the unidimensional factor model. We prove that the partial correlation between two observed variables that load on one factor given any subset of other observed variables that load on this factor lies between zero and the zero-order correlation between these two observed variables. We implement this result in an empirical bootstrap test that rejects the unidimensional factor model when partial correlations are identified that are either stronger than the zero-order correlation or have a different sign than the zero-order correlation. We demonstrate the use of the test in an empirical data example with data consisting of fourteen items that measure extraversion.

• Publication year

  2016

• Venue

  Psychometrika

• Publication date

  2016-10-11

• Fields of study

  Mathematics, Medicine, Economics

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1007/s11336-018-9607-zarXiv 1610.03375PMID 29488148
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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